[UDD] Package file lists / normalization

[Michael Stapelberg <stapelberg@debian.org>]

Hi,

I was looking into importing package file lists into UDD today and got a
proof of concept working.

The following questions arose:

1) This data takes up quite a lot of space, i.e. 276 MiB for amd64 only.
   Is such an increase in space acceptable for UDD? If not, why not?

2) In order to save space, it’d be reasonable to normalize the data,
   i.e. not store the same value over and over again. This is currently
   not done anywhere in UDD. Was this a conscious decision? If so, why?

   I suggest storing the package file lists in a normalized way and
   providing views to access them in an unnormalized way, if the user so
   desires. What do you think?

In case you are wondering: my use-case to have these lists in UDD is to
create an analysis of the different init systems in Debian, e.g. how
many packages ship a sysvinit script and what percentage of those also
ships a systemd or upstart file. In case you know an easier way to get
unpacked package file lists, please let me know.

-- 
Best regards,
Michael